Say Goodbye the Right Way
by dreamweaver71
Summary: Four years into the future and Jason still misses her


"Damn." She harshly whispered as she came down the stairs.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he got up from his seat.

"Jake's playmate must've taken his stuffed pig at the park by accident. Can you go get it Jason? You know he can't sleep without it."

"Liz, it's 9:45. Those people will think I'm some sort of stalker if I go over their house that late."

"Jason please?" Their discussion was interrupted by the wails of a 5 year old Jake.

"Momma? Miser Pinks is gone." Elizabeth quickly rushed to her son's side, trying to prevent more tears from falling onto his face. She picked him up from the bed, letting his head rest on her shoulder as she gave Jason a slip of paper with an address on it. "Daddy gonna find Miser Pinks?" Jason saw the look in his son's eyes turn from despair to sheer joy.

"Of course." He kissed the mess of brown hair on his son's head before grabbing the keys and address from Liz's hand. "I'll see you later." As much as he hated to say it, it was kind of nice to get away from Liz once in a while. It gave him permission to think about her.

It's been four years since she left Port Charles. Pretty much five years since she left his life and he missed her greatly. Every day after he had threatened her became a day filled with guilt and guesses. What is she doing now? Who is she secretly pining for? Does she love him? Does she remember the love they share? Sonny had told him not to worry about her any more but his mind was naturally programmed to rebel against his authority. He looked down at the dashboard, noticing the wallet sized picture of Liz and Jake.

It had all started out with her. Her pregnancy, her lies, her mental process. No one could resurrect themselves properly after Jake's true paternity was revealed so, they all gave up on their old relationships and started new ones. He convinced himself Liz was the one and she went into the comforting arms of Lucky. When he first found out, he was initially stunned. How could she move on so fast? It had to be a revenge plot he thought. And of course, it was that at first, but it grew into love between the two and the newly formed hole in his heart had grown more. Jake of course, filled up half of it and the other half would always and forever, belong to her.

Soon after the relationship had started, he had heard that it was becoming rocky between the two. Lucky was still dedicated to Liz and she hated the fact that he was putting her second. Somewhere inside of Jason, it made him happy that they were broken up. Not because she would be alone forever, but maybe because she would come back and they would be a happy family with Jake.

Like it was supposed to be in the beginning.

But that chance was soon taken away when she left town and she had shocked him again. She was never the type to run away from her problems. She was the one who hit them head on and scared a few men in the process. It always made him smile when he thought about her 5'3 body beating up a man twice her size. But then again, any memory with her made him smile. The first day they had Chinese together, their first kiss, Lila kicking in her stomach, the day he proposed. He missed her so much but, he couldn't have her anymore. He was married to Liz, for the sake of his son, and he would have to learn to live with his memories.

He pulled up into the driveway of 856 Lakewood Plaza. He admired the house from the insides of his car and thought _Since when are we friends with the rich?_ He shook his head to clear his mind and rang the doorbell. He didn't want to deal with the Betty Crocker housewife that constantly hit on him so it was just ask for pig, say thank you, and head home.

"Can I help yo- Jason?" She asked in shock.

"Sam?" His face soon resembled hers. Here she was, in Port Charles, looking more beautiful than ever. He looked at her hand on the door and noticed a glimmering diamond ring. "You're here…and you're married?"

"Yeah." She took a deep breath in and smiled. "Close to four years now. Um…C'mon in. I wasn't expecting company." He walked in slowly after her, trying to reel back from the shock.

"I actually shouldn't be here for long. I came to see if you had a pig?"

"A pig?" She started to laugh. "Jason, I don't live on a farm you know." It was funny to see she had no resentment or bitterness left in her voice. He let his gaze go lower and let his shock grow even more when he saw the obvious baby bump under her maternity shirt. "Jason, are you ok?"

"You're pregnant too?"

'Yeah, I'm due in about 3 months."

"But I thought the doctors said that…you couldn't have kids because of…you know…" He shifted from left to right foot uncomfortably.

"They did Jason but, that was a while ago. My husband actually found a doctor in Italy who made it possible to have more kids." She placed her hand on her stomach for emphasis.

"Oh, after Lila?"

"No after Clark."

"After Clark? You have another kid?"

"Yeah, who do you think Jake plays with when he comes? The baby inside my stomach?"

"But how is it that we never saw you when we picked up Jake at the park? I mean you are his playmate's mother."

"Well, they've only gotten together for two weeks and I've been busy with doctor appointments and what not. So we've sent him with the guard until I have some free time." Standing in her heels was getting painful so she took a seat on the couch and motioned for Jason to follow.

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Didn't stop you from asking the first one." She said with a slight smile.

"If you had a surgery to have kids, how did you get pregnant with Clark in the first place?" This woman had suddenly become very interesting in the past five minutes.

"Miracle I guess. But, it was the roughest and riskiest pregnancy I had. I was on bed rest when I was six months pregnant and gave birth when I was seven months along. They didn't think Clark would make it. Johnny and I wanted more kids and that surgery made it easier on me. Now I'm six months along and no longer need bed rest."

"Johnny's your husband I presume?"

"Yep." Jason wanted to avoid the talk about her husband for just a little longer. "And how's Clark doing?"

"He's doing great. He's no longer a baby but a three year old toddler now. Or as he likes to say 'todder'." Something clicked inside of Jason when she said 'three year old'.

"So if he's three and you've been married for four years then that means it wasn't long ago that you were…"

"Knocked up. Yeah." She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "I never told you why I left in the first place, did I?" He shook his head no. "I was afraid when I found I was pregnant. I was scared that all this stress from the town and its people would cause me to miscarry again. But Johnny found me and we got married a couple of weeks later. After I had Clark, we moved back to Port Charles so he could finish up some business."

"Is this the same Johnny that…"

"Think about it Jason. What other name reminds you of Clark in Port Charles and how many other Johnnys are there in this town?" She let him think for a couple of minutes.

"Clark sounds like Claudia and there's only one Johnny Zacchara! You married Johnny Zacchara?"

"The one and only." The look on his face hadn't changed. "Well, we both worked at the Haunted Star and we were 'scorned lovers' as my mom would say. It was bound to happen."

"Oh."

"So, how's Jake? Last I heard, Lucky was still with him." Still no resentment in her voice. She was acting like an old friend he had missed for years.

"Yeah well, Lucky left town too when you left. Said he needed to find himself. So, I left the mob and helped raise Cameron and Jake. They're both adorable little boys. Well behaved and all that."

"That's good to know. They're both gonna have the girls chasing after them soon." They both let out a laugh before she continued. "Jason, there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I realized that the time we were apart, I never got to say sorry with all of these emotions running through my head. Jealously, anger, and pain prevented me from giving you the apology you deserved. I'm sorry that I called those men on Liz and I watched Jake get kidnapped. I wasn't sure what was going through my mind but, it obviously wasn't good." She said with a sad smile. "Wow, I've waited five years to get that off my chest."

"And you didn't have to apologize Sam."

"Why?"

"I've accepted what you did as being an act of pain but, what I did, is even worse."

"Jason…" She moaned slightly.

"No, hear me out on this. I lied to you for months about Jake's paternity. I pushed you away when I needed you the most. I cost you the most important thing in your life, although you thankfully got it back. And I never said I'm sorry for it all. I caused you all of this pain and you blamed yourself for it even though you shouldn't have. It was all me and even I blamed you for it. But, it was never you. It was all me. And now, now I live with the consequences. Now I sit at home every day, thinking of what could've been if I handled things differently. Could we have been together and married? Could we have been friends at least? I don't want you to blame yourself for this anymore Sam. And this is the only way you and I can move on from the hurt and the pain. I'm so sorry Sam." He had her shoulders in his hands and he let go once he realized what he was grabbing onto.

"Jase I…" she felt tears well up in her eyes but quickly brushed them away when she heard a small voice come down the stairs. Jason and Sam looked over to see a young boy with black hair like his father's and brown eyes like his mother's.

"…Mommy?"

"Yes honey?" She crouched down to his level as best as her pregnant body would allow her.

"That Jake dad?"

"Yes it is. Why?" She picked him up and rested him on her hip.

"I have pig." In his hands was the stuffed pig Jake learned to adore over time. Clark handed the pig to Jason.

"Thanks Clark. Jake will be happy to have this back." He said with a smile on his face.

"Now go on back to bed Clark. You have pre-school tomorrow." He ran upstairs as fast as his legs could take him. Sam's eyes followed him as far as she could.

"I think I should be going now. I got what I came here for and if I know Jake, he's probably driving his mother crazy."

"Yeah and it's getting kind of late. I should be in bed by now." They both walked towards the door in silence. She looked at the clock and he looked past her head towards the wedding picture of her and Johnny. He was taken aback when she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He did the same.

"I'm guessing we're friends now if our sons are."

"Yeah and I'm pretty sure strangers don't sporadically hug each other out of nowhere." They both smiled at each other before she waved goodbye and closed the door. Holding on to the stuffed pig tighter, he felt a weight lift off of his shoulder.

They finally got to say goodbye the right way.


End file.
